


And in what reality is this...?

by Squidy3254



Series: In what multiverse is this... [3]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Sherlock (TV)
Genre: F/M, Mary is not dead (sort of), Multiverse, Spoilers, Strangeolly - Freeform, Turn away if you have not seen Endgame
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-13
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2020-03-02 17:22:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18815524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Squidy3254/pseuds/Squidy3254
Summary: Of visions and the reality...(Please turn away if you have not seen Avengers: Endgame)





	And in what reality is this...?

**Author's Note:**

> The snap that was heard through the multiverse...
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters mentioned. Not for profit yo, not for profit, this is part of my healing process after watching Endgame.

_Titan, 2018, Somewhere in the multiverse_

“Tony, there was no other way…” Stephen Strange replied solemnly to the heavily injured Stark. In a flash of white before him, Stark and the desolated landscape of Titan disappeared. He was sitting by his window overlooking Bleecker Street.

He did not have on the Cloak and his blue robes, but his street clothes, and in a sense of déjà vu he could have sworn he was about to leave for the deli down the street to get a roast beef sandwich.

“And a metaphysical ham on rye for Wong…” Stephen muttered. _What is going on? Perhaps this is another dimension that I have been sent to._

He felt a small tug on his cardigan and looked down to see the brightest pair of blue-gray eyes staring back at him. “Dad…”

Stephen stared back in bewilderment at the tiny creature before him, bright eyed, with cherub cheeks and long auburn hair that reminded him of someone.

“Molly…” Stephen whispered and with a sudden flash he was back on Titan, surrounded by the kid and that band of space assholes.

“Doctor! What just happened? Where’s Mr. Stark?!!” the kid was hysterical.

Stephen stood up and brushed off the dust from his cloak “Kid, it’s been five years, time we head back to Earth.” With a wave of his hand, he opened up a portal. Destination, Avengers Compound.

When all was said and done, and the realization of that one probability of Titan’s defeat, Stephen stood by the lake near Starks’s cabin, able to finally process all that has happened. A portal suddenly opened up next to him, he turned to see Wong standing behind him.

“You have not been to check in on the London Sanctum.”

“Nooooooo, I did not. And that,” Stephen points to the portal “…is NOT the London Sanctum.”

Wong gives him a nod “Just go. They’re waiting for you.”

_They? Does he mean Molly and Holmes?_

“Thank you, Wong.” Stephen steps through the portal and with sound of _whoosh_ it closes behind him.

The flat is virtually the same as five years before, the time that has lapsed since he “vanished”. Time which was but a moment for him. Neat and pristine, she had liked to keep things that way. He approached the mantle, drawn to the frames of photographs covering its surface. He picked up a photo frame, a moment from that road trip long ago frozen in time. When he had kissed her playfully on the cheek, and she smiles radiantly at the camera as she held a cup of that strawberry frozen dessert.

He sets the frame down and took notice of another small frame next to it, with letters adorning the bottom denoting the name of the child whose photo it housed.

“Sofia.” He whispered as he ghosted his hands over the lettering, then to the photo of a smiling girl in an Iron Man Halloween costume. He half laughed and fought back a sob, staring back at him in the photo were those same eyes he had seen in those moments when he had “vanished.”

 “Oh my god...”

He slowly turns around, and there she was, Molly Hooper with a blaster gun in her hand, tears welling in her eyes.

She was as beautiful as she was five years ago.

Stephen cautiously approached her, he had many questions, but could not bring himself to form any words. Molly pulled him to her and clung to him disbelief. He breathed out a sigh of relief and held her tightly in his embrace.

“You finally came back.” She whispered into the crook of his neck.

“Believe me, it felt like a lifetime.” _Though it was but a fleeting moment._ He clutched her to him, not wanting to let go of her ever again, he buries his nose in her hair, breathing in the scent of her.

“Dr. Hooper, since when do you pack heat? Mycroft?”

“Yes, and Braddock. You know, in case some other alien arsehole decides to attack Earth again. It was Stark tech, Sherlock and Sofia were mighty jealous.”

“Mummy!” A little girl’s cry came from the guest bedroom, or former guest bedroom, of Molly’s flat.

Molly carded her fingers through Stephen’s hair “Well, Mr. Sorcerer Supreme, ready for a history lesson of the last five years?”

* * *

 

Stephen Strange sat silently on the settee with his daughter in his arms and Molly by his side. Little Sofia had nestled on his chest, his heartbeat lulling her to sleep. Though she was shy at first, Sofia had taken to her father quickly. It did help that the curious child was fascinated by the incantations ( _in the form of sparkly magical animals_ ) her father had shown her to get her attention. Molly had joke she won’t need to book entertainment for Sofia’s birthday, he would be a hit with the children. By the end of dinner, the girl had clung to her father asking this and that, finishing her meal whilst sitting on his lap.

Molly had briefed him on the past five years. The discovery of her pregnancy after the snap. Her adventures with Sherlock taking care of two young children after John and Mary had turned to dust. Apparently, Sherlock, godfather to Rosamund and Sofia, is quite a child whisperer. Wong had helped whenever he happened to be in town to check on the London Sanctum. Even Mycroft when he wasn’t running the government, though he was a tad more helpful on the resources and security front, not so much hands-on child-minding.

He told her of the fight at the Sanctum, being space with Stark and the kid, those assholes from space, Thanos, and Stark’s sacrifice.

 “I saw her, you know.” He finally broke the silence.

Stephen brushed a hand through his daughter’s auburn hair, his other hand intertwined with Molly’s.

Molly turned to eye him curiously, silently urging him to continue. Stephen continued in a low voice “When…when I had quote-unquote ‘turned to dust’, I woke up in the Sanctum, and there she was.” He placed a small kiss to Sofia’s hair “calling me ‘Dad’, then I woke up and I was back on Titan. I came back, and she is real.”

Molly rested her head on his shoulder “Are you worried that we aren’t?”

Stephen turned kiss the crown of her head “I am. Perhaps I might have transported to a different reality, we don’t even begin to understand the full effect of the Stones.”

“She’s real.” Molly ran her hand up and down his arm in a gesture of comfort “We’re real.”

He gave a wry laugh “I was at Stark’s funeral today.” He felt the little squeeze that Molly gave his hand “I saw his wife, his little girl. She’s about Sofia’s age.”

“I saw over 14 million possible outcomes in our fight against Thanos, 14 million different realities and only one of which we come out on top. It was that one.” Stephen laughed bitterly “You know, I had told him if it was between saving him, the kid, and the Stone, I would not hesitate to let either of them die. And in the end…I did not hesitate.”

“But when you saw his wife and child, you questioned…”

Stephen shook his head “My duty as the Sorcerer Supreme is to protect our reality and protect the Earth from threats against it with my life and at all cost. But I can’t help but wonder after meeting my own daughter about Stark’s little girl.” He held onto his little girl a little tighter. “Was there something that I, or anyone could have done that does not result in this? Was there another reality I have not seen?”

Molly cupped his face and turned his head towards her, she knew that was the doctor side of him coming through. “You only saw the possibilities. In the end it was his choice to use his life to exchange for the lives of many, including his wife and child. It was...inevitable I guess.”

He planted a kiss to her forehead “Ever practical with death, Dr. Hooper.”

“Part of the job.” Molly wrinkled her nose in thought “Do you think there really are different realities, where there are different versions of us, leading different lives?”

“My dear, would that even surprise you?” Perhaps The Ancient One had left some text written on the subject, he really should check with Wong when he gets back to New York. Eventually, anyways.

“No, not really.” Molly pressed her lips together suppressing a smile “Who knows? Maybe in another reality you have a hot nurse for a girlfriend who go to all the conferences with you, and I would be married to Sherlock or Jim, spending our lives microwaving eyeballs or planning the demise of a small country.”

“I forgot you had a thing for brilliant assholes.” Stephen sardonically.

“Brilliant and dramatic arseholes to be correct. I met the most brilliant one a few years back. He literally floated into the morgue with sparkles surrounding him, such a drama-queen.” she said as she playfully gave him a peck on the lips.

Molly smoothed her hand over her daughter’s hair “I should put her to bed, here let me have her.”

Stephen stopped her and stood up with Sofia in his arms, being careful not to jostle her too much. The little girl sensed movement, but quickly shifted and snuggled into her father’s chest with a yawn and remained asleep.

“It’s been a long day for us all.” He slowly stood up and held his daughter in one arm and offered his hand to his Molly, leading his family to the main bedroom.

This was his reality now, the reality he came back to, with his Molly and their beautiful little girl,

It was a reality that he will defend at all cost.


End file.
